Life after loss in Tombohuaun

“I look to the future and hope that such things won't happen again, and that God will give me children that stay with me.”

Young mum Haja has felt the impact of dirty water more than some in Tombohuaun, a village deep in the jungle of Sierra Leone.

Over the last three years, she’s lost three children. Two of them were just babies when they died from a fever and runny tummy - common symptoms of drinking dirty water.

"I have given birth to six children, but I only have three alive."

Diarrhea caused by dirty water and poor toilets kills a child under 5 every 2 minutes.

Haja’s aunt Mamie is like a mum to her (that’s the two of them in the photo) and was there for her when baby Lahai died last December.

"The baby was on my lap when he died... I felt very bad because I'd been playing with the baby for some time, and then suddenly he was gone...I couldn't stand my ground and I started crying. Haja was also crying seriously."

Will you donate to WaterAid and help stop families like Haja’s having to go through such heartbreaking loss?

A brighter future

WaterAid/Haja

Haja took this photo of her son Ibrahim, 4, and his friends

Everywhere you look in Tombohuaun, you’ll see people determined to live life to the full. Despite all she's been through, Haja is looking to the future and the difference clean water will make when it comes to Tombohuaun this winter.

“If we have safe drinking water here it would add value to our life. It would reduce infections. It would reduce the burden of going down to the forest. It would reduce the burden to us.”

And until clean water arrives, she’s doing all she can to keep her three young sons healthy. After being shown how to by WaterAid, she installs tippy taps to teach them and her neighbours the importance of good hygiene. Watch the video and see her show her four-year-old son Ibrahim how to use one.

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